Rutland Council Scrutiny
Councils have various options for the structure of Governance whereby Councillors run the council. Rutland Council has opted for a Cabinet and Scrutiny system.
Rutland Council has a Cabinet of 6 Members comprising of Leader, Councillor Begy, Deputy Leader, Councillor King and 4 Portfolio Members. The remaining 20 Councillors then sit in a Scrutiny capacity.
Scrutiny takes the form of Scrutiny Committees which are supposed to mirror Parliament Scrutiny, which people often see on TV with the Prime Minister, Cabinet Minister, Bank Chief Executive or other member of a public body being brought before the Scrutiny Committee to be cross examined on a matter. This is good open Democracy.
The role of Scrutiny is to look at an important matter well before a decision is taken or sometimes after a decision is taken if it appears that it may not have been taken with the right intent or proper information made available.
To be effective Scrutiny must be pro-active, looking well ahead at decisions to be taken by Cabinet and to thoroughly examine decisions that have been taken, especially if further facts come to light.
Rutland Council has 4 main Scrutiny Committees, Resources, Places, People Adults and People Children. The 4 Chairs of these Committees form the Scrutiny Commission lead by Councillor Roper, and the Scrutiny Commission oversees the whole of the Scrutiny Agenda. This is obviously a very important role, however, in Rutland the Scrutiny Commission appears to work undercover with no one knowing what they do or discuss. This is because the Scrutiny Commission Meetings in Rutland are not public, have no Agenda, no record of the Meeting and no input from its Scrutiny Members, which is a disgrace. This is hardly transparent democracy.
The Members of 4Rutland have written to the Chairman of the Scrutiny Commission on several occasions since first being elected in May 2011, asking that he convene a meeting of all Scrutiny Members to discuss the best way forward, he has not even had the courtesy to reply. The 4Rutland Members also asked that Councillor Roper make the Scrutiny Commission Meetings public with an Agenda and Minutes, again he has not responded.
Many Councils throughout the Country have very good and open Scrutiny. This is from just one other Council’s statement on the function of Scrutiny Commission:
“The Scrutiny Commission Committee has a general remit to maintain an overview of the discharge of the Council's executive functions, and to have the right to scrutinise any executive decision made by the Cabinet or by Council Officers, or to review the Council's policy making decision making processes.”
This is crucial if the Council is to be Governed properly.
Rutland Council, by contrast, does anything but. The controlling group, and we call it that rather than the Conservative Group, since that is exactly what it is, ensures by close control of the Scrutiny function as well as the Cabinet, that it can ensure all contentious decisions get through without any form of close examination. Important and far reaching matters such as Asset disposals or most recently the £627,000 being spent on one football pitch, this is taxpayers money and they have a right to know it is being disposed of or spent in the most efficient, effective and economic manner in their interest, which is where Scrutiny has a most important role to play.
However, proper Scrutiny on Rutland Council is non-existent. Most of the time Scrutiny is reduced to looking at the minutia, with very little of importance on the Agenda and often with nothing more than presentations from Officers on subjects of little importance, subjects which Councillors can easily read for themselves. This purely serves to bulk out meetings and avoid important debate, even then Scrutiny Meetings often last no longer than 30 to 40 minutes. Under the old Committee system meetings could last 2 to 3 hours.
All of this is nothing new, it has been the same ever since the Cabinet/Scrutiny system was introduced. It is of course deliberate, it ensures sensitive and far reaching issues are passed with little to no debate or close investigation and little to nothing comes to the attention of the public before decisions are consolidated and it is too late for them to make any valid input.
When this is coupled with scant Reports, incorrect Reports, no record of meetings with outside bodies or Companies and a denial by the Chief Executive for Members to access files on such subjects, which is a Member’s statutory right, then there is a serious problem.
This is a serious problem that is effectively being endorsed by Scrutiny when the Scrutiny Commission Chairman and his team refuse to review or carry out Scrutiny in an effective way to ensure all matters are looked at closely.
Everything on Rutland Council is currently organised in a manner to do whatever those in control please. Our aim is to ensure there is proper and transparent debate, proper and full scrutiny on all important matters and to make the public fully aware of what is being proposed or transpires in their name. Through this website we will try and make the public fully aware of the important issues, past, present and future.
